Caravan of English Soldiers

The Last of the Mohicans
By Sharon White

The war novel “The Last of the Mohicans” contains a deep morale in itself. It teaches people that courage is the best solution to fear. Any problems that a person faces can be overcome, and it only takes one step to it-courage.

The characters exhibit courage in many different circumstances. The novel follows three men traveling through the woods. Two of them are Mohican Indians, Chingachgook and his son Uncas, and the other is a white man raised by the Indians, Hawkeye. One day these men encounter a caravan of English soldiers led by Major Duncan Hayward. This caravan is in charge of escorting Colonel Munro's daughters, Alice and Cora, to Fort William Henry where their father is. When the three Mohicans encounter the group they decide that they will help lead the English to the Fort, but what they do not know is that the evil Magua is out to get them, this fact leads to an endless chase.

Through this long game of chase many of these characters exhibit a great deal of courage. Cora overcomes many fears that one would not believe she could handle. When the group decides to hide in a dark cave as being traced by the Hurons, Cora does not seem alarmed by this, "'is then our danger so pressing'" . At one point in the novel Magua captures her sister and Cora is left with a decision to make, surrender herself to the enemy to be with her sister or to run away, "notwithstanding the horror excited by the presence of her captor…she took her seat…and held forth her arms for her sister". Cora knows that she must take care of her sister. At the end of the novel Cora is captured by Magua and is being dragged along as he is trying to escape the Mohicans, and Cora knows that she must stop. She exclaims to the Magua that she, "will go no farther…kill me if thy wilt… detestable Huron…I will go no farther".